Peter Parker Meets Miles Morales in Spider-Men

Marvel Comics' two versions of Spidey will meet this summer in Spider-Men No. 1.

By James Hunt, Wired UK

Following weeks of speculation, Marvel Comics has confirmed that Spider-Men — a five-issue series beginning in June 2012 — will feature the first-ever meeting of Peter Parker (the Amazing Spider-Man) and his alternate-universe successor, Miles Morales.

[partner id=”wireduk”] The release of Spider-Men, created by writer Brian Bendis, artist Sara Pichelli and colorist Justin Ponsor, will mark the 50th anniversary of Peter Parker‘s debut in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy No. 15. Details are scarce, but we do know that the series will see Parker transported to Marvel’s parallel “Ultimate” universe — one where his own counterpart recently died in battle, leaving the Spider-Man identity to be assumed by Miles Morales, a half-black, half-Hispanic teenager with his own costume and superpowers.

Although the mainstream Marvel Universe Spidey remains alive and well in comics such as Amazing Spider-Man and Avenging Spider-Man, Miles Morales has been the focus of the monthly Ultimate Comics Spider-Man series since it was relaunched in 2011.

The meeting of Spider-Man and his Ultimate incarnation ends 13 years of tightly enforced separation between the two comic lines. The Ultimate Comics imprint was originally created as a place to reinterpret classic stories and characters for a modern audience, but has since evolved to feature original material. Morales is the line’s most successful creation, and despite some skepticism from those who felt the character’s background was self-consciously PC, he quickly gained the approval of a majority of fans and critics.

When teaser images for Spider-Men first hinted at a meeting between the two characters some months ago, many were quick to point out that such an event would rescind a long-standing assurance from Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada that the Ultimate and mainstream universes would never meet. In 2005, he famously said that if that ever happened, it would mean Marvel had “officially run out of ideas.” However, Quesada’s style of publicity has always been reminiscent of Marvel’s most famous huckster, Stan Lee: infectiously enthusiastic and cheerfully inconsistent.

Indeed, Senior Editor Mark Paniccia (who oversees the Ultimate line) revealed that it was the former editor in chief himself who proposed this crossover, saying, “Joe Quesada suggested one huge way to celebrate 50 years of Spidey was to do the ultimate — no pun intended — Marvel team-up.” Current editor in chief Axel Alonso later told Comic Book Resources, “This isn’t the first time we considered breaking that wall, but on all other occasions, we walked away from it because we didn’t have the right story. We do now.”

Typically for such an event, Marvel has promised lasting repercussions and big surprises. Paniccia told fans: “If you think everything is going to be put nice and tidily back in the toy box, think again.” Meanwhile, Associate Editor Sana Amanat stated that the characters would “inspire and empower” one another — in the case of Morales, that may be meant literally, because he has yet to acquire his own web-slinging technology. Who better to help him with that than Peter Parker?

Paniccia also confirmed that the event would feature appearances by The Ultimates (the Ultimate universe’s version of the Avengers), the Ultimate versions of Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, and villains from both universes.

Spider-Men No. 1 will be available in comic shops and digitally from June 13.